


Fortifications

by ohbthr (RegicidalDwarf)



Category: Percy Jackson and the Olympians & Related Fandoms - All Media Types
Genre: Domestic Fluff, F/M, does it count as a college AU if it's canon
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-07-21
Updated: 2016-07-21
Packaged: 2018-07-25 22:34:56
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,035
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7549885
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/RegicidalDwarf/pseuds/ohbthr
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>“Can you grab another couch cushion for me?”</p><p>“Yeah. Sure thing,” he said. Then, a moment later, “What exactly are you doing?”</p><p>Annabeth snorted. “I’m making a blanket fort, obviously.”</p><p>__</p><p>A meme prompt that turned out longer and more full of feelings than I expected. Which is really the Rick Riordan story, I guess.</p><p>For the simplicity of the timeline I'm pretending Trials of Apollo doesn't exist.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Fortifications

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Elenchus](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Elenchus/gifts).



“Percy!” called Annabeth, voice pitched to carry. Their apartment in New Rome wasn’t huge, but if Percy was caught up with something he wouldn’t always hear her, and she had her hands full.

“What’s up?” Percy asked, peering around the doorway into the living room. His mouth dropped open. “Uh.”

“The western wall is unstable,” Annabeth said, securing one end of the sheet she was holding to the top of the bookcase. “I need you to fortify it.”

“The...western wall,” he repeated, blinking at her. Annabeth stifled a laugh.

“It’s the one closest to you,” she said. “Can you grab another couch cushion for me?”

“Yeah. Sure thing,” he said. Then, a moment later, “What exactly are you doing?”

Annabeth snorted. “I’m making a blanket fort, obviously.” She hopped off the step ladder and began adjusting the drape of the sheet. She eyed it critically. They might have to commandeer the lamp.

“Obviously,” said Percy, grabbing one of the large, stiff cushions off the back of the couch. “Not that I’m complaining, but don’t you have class in an hour?”

Annabeth shrugged.

“I’m not going today,” she said. Hmm. The lamp didn’t have any obvious attaching points. She undid her ponytail and used her hair tie to secure the corner of the sheet to the lamp switch, her still damp hair falling around her shoulders. That done, she stood back for a moment. She’d used the back of the couch on one side of the room and the bookcases on the other to create a kind of tent that stretched most of the length of their living room. It wasn’t the palace on Mount Olympus or anything, but it would do.

She glanced over, noticing Percy’s silence. He was staring at her, hands on his hips, eyebrow raised. God, he looked so cute.

“ _You_ , Girl Genius, Miss ‘All My Teachers Love Me,’ aren’t going to class today?” he asked. Annabeth flushed.

“Well,” she said. “I got my test results back in my Calculus class the other day.”

“Okay?”

“Well I got a 100%.”

“Hey that’s great!” said Percy, holding up a hand for a high-five. She gave it to him, then yelped when he grabbed her hand and pulled her in for a kiss instead. She melted into him immediately.

“So what’s this about skipping class again?” he asked, when they separated, a few breathless minutes later.

“Uh, well, the Professor told me after class that as long as my homework got done he really didn’t consider my attendance mandatory anymore,” she said, blushing. She simultaneously felt pleased and embarrassed to be noticed like that. “And I was going to go anyway, but I was out for my morning class and I got caught in the rain, and it was cold, and I don’t know.” She shrugged. Percy grinned.

“Annabeth Chase, have I finally become a bad influence on you?” he asked. She rolled her eyes.

“Dream on, Seaweed Brain, this is a one time only occurrence.”

“Uh huh,” said Percy, ducking under the sheets. “Hey, where are we supposed to sit?” he called.

“Give me a minute!” Annabeth called back, then went back to the linen closet and grabbed the two sleeping bags out from the bottom shelf. She also made a quick stop into the bedroom to grab their pillows, then back to the living room and under the fort.

Percy was lounging on the floor, sitting with his back against the couch. He grinned when he saw what she was carrying, and between the two of them (and the remaining throw pillows from the couch) they soon had an impressive nest to curl up in.

“So what’s this really about?” Percy asked, a few minutes later when they were warm, and dry, and Annabeth was finally starting to feel that knot between her shoulders ease out.

“Who says it’s about anything?” she muttered, refusing to open her eyes. Percy snorted. Since Annabeth’s head was at that moment resting on his chest, she felt it as well as heard it.

“I know you,” he said. Annabeth sighed. She wouldn’t trade this for anything, but sometimes it was annoying how true that was.

“I feel like we never got a break,” she finally said.

“What do you mean?” he asked, one hand carding slowly through her hair, gentling loosening the tangles the rain had put in it, leaving her feeling boneless.

“I don’t know,” she said. “I just feel like after all that work we did, saving the world-”

“Twice,” muttered Percy.

“Exactly,” said Annabeth. “Then immediately afterwards we got sent back to school, and it’s not like college is anything like battling Gaia, or crawling through Tartarus, but it’s still _hard_ , and I just.” She sighed again. “I just wanted a day.”

“Okay,” said Percy, light and easy, like he always was whenever she admitted to needing something. He somehow managed to slide down even further into the blanket nest. “We’ll take a day. We’ll take two days, if you want.”

Annabeth grinned.

“Don’t even try, I know you’re just looking for an excuse not to go to your Trig class.”

Percy groaned.

“But it’s haaaaaard,” he said, all whine, and Annabeth laughed. She opened her eyes, and laughed even harder at the exaggerated pout Percy was wearing. She couldn’t help herself, she immediately began to work to kiss it off him. The rest of the afternoon passed that way - warm, and safe, and hidden. Excursions to the kitchen were made, fortifications of hot chocolate and snacks were carefully brought back and eaten. Clothes were exchanged for softer clothes, and then taken off altogether (the officials at New Rome had given them a two bedroom apartment for the sheerest fiction of plausible deniability - Annabeth had immediately turned the other room into an office with Percy’s complete approval). Annabeth couldn’t remember the last time she had felt so weightless.

“You know,” said Percy, sometime later, mumbling and sleepy eyed, “I bet I could keep both of us dry, if we wanted to go out and get dinner.”

“Sshh, go to sleep babe,” murmured Annabeth. They’d order pizza, or something, but she could figure that out later. In the meantime, she wanted a nap.


End file.
